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 There
goes the neighbourhood. What did anyone expect; that once you forcibly
wake a giant, irradiated prehistoric beast from its millennia-long
slumber, it was going to calmly walk off into the sunset? Of course
not. And if you find one supernaturally large creature that could
obliterate humanity as we know it, surely, there’s bound to be more.
That’s where we are at the beginning of GODZILLA: KING OF THE
MONSTERS. Years after the devastation caused by Godzilla’s tiff with
the large, insectoid enemy, MUTO, the government searches wildly for any
other dormant behemoths, with the intent to either control or destroy
them.
On the
control side, scientist Emma Russell has perfected a sonic pacifier
called the Orca, that is currently on hand at the hatching of an
enormous larva. It’s a trial by fire as the caterpillar’s debut goes a
lot more violently than planned, proving the machine to be quite
powerful in its ability to sooth the savage beast. It’s no surprise
that others covet it, and Emma’s kidnapping -- along with her visiting
daughter (Because this was Take Your Daughter To a Highly Dangerous
Monster Hatching Day) -- is simply inevitable.
Seemingly forced by a cadre of eco-terrorists, Emma unleashes a new
creature; a golden, three-headed dragon, meant to act as a counter to
the danger of a certain unpredictable, fire-breathing lizard. Emma’s
machine wakes up more than King Ghidorah, and soon the world is overrun
by kaiju -- giant monsters -- popping up all around the world, more
inclined to heed the big shiny guy than the glow-in-the-dark dinosaur.
Suddenly, the eco-terrorists’ plans aren’t quite so eco-friendly, as
King Ghidorah shows a certain flair for total human extermination. Who
can save the earth (Save the earth!), from the monster who was
meant to save the earth from the other monster?
GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS is a vast improvement over the 2014 film
that set off this spate of monster movie reboots. Most notably, the
addition of the A-team of classic monsters from the Japanese Gojira
canon -- King Ghidorah, Rodan, and Mothra (amongst others) -- is
the best thing that could’ve happened to this US franchise. Bringing
them in not only acknowledges and plays to Godzilla’s longtime fans, but
also those kaiju really were brilliant inventions to either challenge or
team up with the Big G. The battle scenes are beautifully arranged and
exciting… when they aren’t needlessly interrupted.
What
was not great was the filmmakers’ inability to learn from the first
attempt; that when watching a movie called GODZILLA: KING OF THE
MONSTERS, nobody is here for the humans. Even less so when those humans
are the literal cause of the disasters befalling the entire planet. All
the catastrophes on screen are down to one family’s inability to get
grief counselling. Their emotional swings and selfish
justifications have brought about Armageddon, and I had (Monster)
Zero sympathy watching them escape the consequences of their actions,
while incidentally trying to make up for an iota of the destruction they
were responsible for.
This
is not heroism. In fact, it’s something much more selfish and
craven: For example, Dr. Mark Russell, husband to Emma, and patriarch of
the idiot family, spends the whole film heedlessly throwing himself into
dangerous situation after dangerous situation, like some half-baked
Indiana Jones, risking both the lives of the military and scientists
assigned to stop the disasters, and the mission, itself: Yet, when there
is a sure peril that one member of the good guy team must stay and see
himself irradiated in order to have one last chance at worldwide
salvation; suddenly Mr. Action Hero is silent as the grave. In his
place -- and mind you, all of this is Russell and his stupid family’s
fault -- the person who knows the most about all things Godzilla, nobly
(Of course) sacrifices himself, because, you know, we don’t
really need a monster expert in these days when giant, untamable
creatures are popping up like cockroaches. All of a sudden, Dr. Jerk’s
volunteering hands are somehow trapped by their sides, while an actual
useful person must die. Mighty white of you, Doc.
Some
of my loudest cheers occurred when -- after continuously
putting themselves directly into harm’s way, including under the very
feet of the kaiju -- it seemed remotely possible one of the
troublemaking clan might actually be stomped by one of the creatures.
This isn’t just a narrative complaint; the amount of camera cutaways
from the monster battles to show us the reactions of the human
characters was infuriating and unnecessary. I didn’t come there to see
Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga, the STRANGER THINGS kid, or Bradley
Whitford play version 2357626253865 of the same snarky role; I wanna see
Godzilla step on stuff, blow flames, and beat up other monsters. It’s
really that simple.
The
shame of it is, that unlike the first film, which was astounding in its
lack of focus on the reptile in the title, this chapter has some really
gorgeous and exciting images of the monsters. Each of the main kaiju’s
introductions are breathtaking -- sometimes literally. Rodan’s
phoenix-like rise from a lava-spewing volcano precedes his soaring over
a small town, simultaneously poisoning citizens with sulfur dust falling
from his chest, and whipping bodies into the air with each flap of his
leathery wings.
The
evolution of the Mothra larva is interesting as at first the baby is
curious and tame, but thanks to a trigger-happy guard, turns very, very
angry; yet after its glorious emergence from the cocoon -- complete with
delicate, stained-glass patterned wings -- Mothra instinctively fights
on behalf of Godzilla. (Mayhaps the writers meant to establish where
the inevitable Son of Godzilla will eventually come from.) I wasn’t
as thrilled with a modification to Mothra that made no sense, not only
because she’s a moth, but seemed to stem less from a poor grasp of
biology than from needing to rush her battle against Rodan (Ostensibly
to make more room for the fascinating humans’ story).
Then
there is the big -- really big -- bad, King Ghidorah. In the classic
Godzilla canon, Ghidorah is the lizard’s most famous foe. It’s also
the coolest looking, even in its early visible strings years. A
metallic, gold three-headed dragon that fires electric bolts from
each of its mouths. The filmmakers kept most of Ghidorah’s key
elements; the gracefully-lined heads with cranky faces, the thick torso
on two stumpy legs, and an even more impressive wingspan, that provides
logistically for the weight of the huge beast. Two new features were
its tail shaking and making noise like a rattlesnake, which put me in
mind of stop-motion master Ray Harryhausen’s rendering of Medusa from
CLASH OF THE TITANS. The filmmakers added some humour and gave the
three heads distinct personalities, with the middle one being the alpha,
and the left head being a dope. The visualisation of the golden dragon
is excellent, and great care has been taken for the movements of all the
monsters, especially in battle. And who else would King Ghidorah
be battling other than…
Godzilla! This year’s model looks a bit strange: Where’s his neck? The
entire head and neck seemed very squashed down and pressed in, and
Godzilla’s face resembles that of an old pit bull. The body and
spines are lovely, but the face… Narratively, this Godzilla is at
risk on several levels: He is simply outclassed by the massive dragon (Three
heads are better than one), he also now has more giant monsters to
deal with, and there’s a big problem at the very core of him. The
radiation that brought him to life is quickly reaching meltdown levels
inside the big greeny (He’s green, that is all!), and even if he
manages to defeat King Ghidorah, there’s nothing to say he won’t end up
destroying himself and the planet once he goes nuclear.
With the advent
of the other classic monsters fighting for dominance, comes the
opportunity for dynamics and interaction, which was always a huge part
of Godzilla’s appeal: He was never just a pretty face. There was always
a hierarchy in the kaiju world, and Godzilla was on top, due as much to
his forceful and cool personality, as to his mighty, blue flame-spitting
fabulosity. (To this end, this is why I miss the man-in-suit days,
because the actors inside the skins gave the creatures their quirks and
qualities.)
The
old school homages were thrilling: As there was in the first film, there
are variations on the classic Godzilla themes by Ifukube Akira, but I
was nearly in tears at new, orchestral versions of the gorgeous Mothra
lullabye, and yes, the classic Mothra theme, “Mahala Mothra.” Sadly,
The Peanuts were not available to lend their dulcet tones, and there was
no vocal. Speaking of Emi and Yumi, there is a twins reference (Which
might even play into one character being also a doppelganger for the
Heisei-era monster empath, Miki Saegusa.). On the other hand, I
would live ecstatically if I never heard -- in any variation -- that
tired Blue Oyster Cult “Godzilla” dirge, again.
For
the first half of the movie, King Ghidorah is called Monster Zero, which
refers to his name in his 1965 film appearance. There are other
kaiju awakened around the world (It turns out there are many more
than our featured quartet), and while not officially named, we seem
to have tiny glimpses of what looked like classic monsters from the
Gojira pantheon, including new versions of the giant spider, Kumonga (Or
Spiga, as I knew him), and the praying mantis, Kamacuras. It could
just have been a fancy of mine, but I could have sworn in a scene set in
Munich, there was a spiky, shelled creature pushing out from
underground, and I held my breath hoping it might be Toho’s toughest
stalwart, the Ankylosaurus, Anguirus, but I couldn’t see for sure. The
return of the Oxygen Destroyer from the original 1954 epic is not
necessarily a welcome one. There is also the image of the red,
radiation overloaded Godzilla that hearkens back to 1995’s GODZILLA VS.
DESTOROYAH, that looks quite chilling here.
While
not really an Easter egg, the post-credit dedication to
director/producer Yoshimitsu Banno {Godzilla vs the Smog Monster
(Hedorah)}, and the late, great Gojira icon, Nakajima Haruo, the very
first man to put on the suit -- and wear it for many years -- was very
touching.
GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS is miles ahead of its disappointing
predecessor, and surprising in its pure enjoyableness. But for the
start and stop of the dreary people story, the movie is a pure blast of
summer fun. If the filmmakers can get it through their heads to shuffle
off the silly Kabuki dance of trying to make us care about the human
subplot, and remember who the audience paid to see, I actually might
have hope for the US Godzilla canon going forward.
~ The
Lady Miz Diva
May 29th,
2019
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